THRASS ADVANCED COURSE, BRISBANE 4-6 OCTOBER 2006

This course has proved very valuable in giving more ways to use THRASS and to understand it better. It gives you more confidence to work with it with ease and to encourage others to use it. Thank you.
Cathy Gallo, Macquarie Community College.

Thanks. Enjoyed the discussions and always like listening to discussions about teacher pedagogy and the importance of subject knowledge. These are always inspiring topics on top of THRASS. Feel that I’ve consolidated so much now and can’t wait to work with teachers and students involved in them in my new found knowledge of IPA and feel so much more confident. Can’t wait till your next visit.
Alex Jennings, Lockhart River SS.

The course was what I expected and more! It really consolidated things for me. I am now even more confident to use what I’ve learnt in my classroom and feel confident that I could help my other colleagues get started! I found the IPA difficult to learn in such a short period of time but now have an appreciation for why it is so important. I will now continue to educate myself in this area to build up my confidence in being able to teach my students. Thank you for inspiring me to become a better teacher for my students!
Michelle Snodgrass, Western Cape College

Excellent course. Gave me: more THRASS activities to use, sound subject knowledge, good discussion points for staff back at school, solved questions about different graphs/digraphs/trigraphs and more strategies for convincing staff.
Joanne Sinclair, Clifton Hill PS, Victoria.

Wow! My head is thumping! I have so much knowledge and more ideas to impart to my students and staff. Thanks I have enjoyed the course. I learnt a lot, and confirmed many of my ideas, picked myself up on some areas I need to work more on.
Annemarie Vuorinen, St Dympna’s, Aspley.

Fantastic experience that has greatly improved and internalized my understanding of THRASS. I have many wonderful activities to take back to my students and am keen to help other teachers at my school learn to use THRASS and more effectively. Wonderfully and passionately presented, friendly and supportive atmosphere.
Joanne Colman, Abbotsleigh Junior School, Sydney

Excellent course. I have been reminded of the need to be more consistent in my teaching. Great ideas. Great encouragement by trainers. Thank you for your dedication and enthusiasm.
Joanne Lowther, Dalby Christian School.

I have learnt more about IPA and gained more confidence. Thank you. Group work was great.
Jo Mian, Andergrove SS.

I had a fantastic time and I am inspired to study more and to the best I can with this amazing tool. I only hope I can do it justice! Our teachers will be so much better for this as well as our students!
Peggy Murray, Canadian International School, Hong Kong.

It has been absolutely wonderful to see you again and attend the course to be yet again inspired, enthused and taught. I am delighted to be a part of THRASS – however confused on how many courses to continually attend and the purpose of me – I have felt lost this time around in when/how to contribute being stuck in the middle. But I certainly still enjoy and learn. THRASS has impacted my life forever and I wish to share my knowledge to more and more people. I hope to visit you again in the future.
Kylie Edmondson, Proserpine SS.

This has been a fantastic consolidation of my previous courses BUT it shows me that I have still a lot of learning and practicing to do! I am keen to take back these new ideas and many pieces of new information to my colleagues. I am also keen to implement the activities shown to us when school resumes. I hope THRASS will become more widespread on the Coast of NSW!
Daph Petersen, Narranga PS, NSW.

Informative, creative, corrective. Effective teaching practice modeled and encourage. Empowering. Team teaching demonstrates possibilities for improvements in teaching practice, effective and learning environment so students benefit. Need for ongoing practice and exploration of applications of methodology. “Straight from the horses mouth” when the horse is a proud winner with excellent breeding and training, disciplined but willing to continue to learn as well as share the stable with other fantastic athletes.
Lesley Anne Mooney, Great Lakes College, Tuncurry Junior Campus, NSW.

Thank you for the invitation to attend. I feel that what I have been doing is definitely the right thing – both in my work with children and the help I have given teachers who are using THRASS, this has been confirmed and reinforced by the things the trainer has said over these 3 days. I look forward to being able to deliver such courses in the future.
Frances Duffy, St Joseph’s Molong.

So good to come to a course which was so ‘hands on’ and practical. Can’t wait to get back to my school/s to share my new knowledge and bust open the old mythology and replace it with methodology! Hoping to be able to call on the support of the trainers if I need help with my mission. Thank you for sharing such a ‘common sense’ approach to the teaching of literacy skills.
Madonna Galawyn, Speech Pathologist, All Saints Parish School.

Thank you for the privilege to attend the Advanced Accreditation Course again. It showed me that I have internalized the principals of the pedagogy and I feel confident and comfortable with how well it addresses the desired outcomes of a good literacy program. At the same time I picked up so many great ideas in consolidating the students understanding and in making the most of the material produced by THRASS. With Jo Colman on board too and a school who’s staff contains many members with some training. I hope that the school can execute its teaching utilizing THRASS principals to the maximum. Will look forward to you visiting Abbotsleigh.
Lesley Forbes, Abbotsleigh Junior School, NSW.

Thank you for a great 3 days! It has been refreshing and empowering to hear and discuss the THRASS foundations. I enjoyed learning IPA – helps fight against Alzheimer’s, learn something new and challenging. In the line of duty in the classroom, one can feel undermined not only by parents but by colleagues whom we think are on the same side. It is great to work on our subject knowledge and be given some clues on how to get others to think through their assumptions. ‘Think for yourself’ is something I’m taking away from this course.
Christine Lewis, Ocean Forest Lutheran School, Bunbury, WA.

Fantastic course! This course was just what I needed to move on and develop my knowledge and confidence when using THRASS. The length of the course, the trainer’s wonderful presentation skills, passion and leadership and the assistance from the THRASS trainers made this one of the most important courses I’ve attended. Thank you and all the THRASS trainers for all the assistance and amazing guidance over the past 3 days!
Amber Hamilton, Gowrie PS, ACT

Absolutely fabulous 3 days. Energy and structure! Thank you for an incredibly stimulating and professional opportunity to the trainers!
Machelle Flowers-Smith, ‘You Can Do It Coordinator’.

THRASS ADVANCED CERTIFICATE COURSE, MELBOURNE 25-27 SEPTEMBER, 2006

Another fantastic workshop! Each time I attend a THRASS workshop, my knowledge and skills keep on improving. My IPA and chart knowledge has improved. I hope to spread the word on October 9 with about 60 integration aides or 550s. Thank you for your offer of picture charts for use in THRASS briefings to principles and teachers. My school recently spent 7 days training on tribes, restorative practices and understanding poverty to address the behavior problems. My opinions that literacy is at the heart of the problem but this isn’t being addressed, as yet.
Steve McLachlan, Newcomb SC.

Once again I found this course to be thought provoking, challenging, informative and highly entertaining! I like the informal, interactive aspect of the delivery from the trainer and the other trainers while at the same time; I feel that I have received relevant and practical information to use in my teaching. The resources, as always, were great to use too. The facilities, food and location of the course venue are excellent. Thanks for a great 3 days!
Jocelyn Hawkins, St Pauls’ Anglican Grammar School (Traralgon Campus)

I think I should sign up for the trainer course next year! And you should bring THRASS to Malaysia! I’ve learnt more by coming again to this course and being able to gain from others experiences and ideas – is just fantastic. Thanks to the trainers for very explicit instruction and guidance to the program. I think THRASS has a big role to play in helping our young ones and those with disabilities attain skills of literacy. The course has very good practical component and I absolutely love it! Consolidates what I’ve learned before and more!
Zurahini Abdul Rahim, The University of Melbourne.

Excellent consolidation for my knowledge. Good opportunity to ask questions and clarify. Enjoyed using the resources – valuable to see their different uses and how to extend their use from the obvious. Valuable to network with other teachers who have similar and different roles. Good venue, although nice to get out into the fresh air. Thank you for the great opportunity, looking forward to getting back into it after the holidays. Brenda Platt, Norlane West PS

So sad I didn’t hear about THRASS sooner! Loved the hands-on experience with the materials available. Great discussions about best teaching practices! Excellent to get up and work through activities and feel like a student. THANK YOU SO MUCH for the opportunity to participate in the 3 day advanced course. I am excited to take the fabulous materials back to my school in Canada. Would be interested in becoming a trainer… please keep me in mind!
Shelley Isenor, Norlane West PS.

I found the course useful for the following reasons: revision of IPA, chart knowledge, ideas for classroom games, learning from other people’s experiences, improving my articulation of schwa! Confirming that what I have been implementing is consistent with THRASS methodology. Changing my own teaching methods to better develop students literacy skills, promoting THRASS in school – key staff, supporting articulation therapy and better understanding language skills e.g. concept development, links between auditory memory, literacy and language.
Hazel Lekkas, Speech Pathologist, Lexico Speech Pathology Services.

Thank you for a wonderful 3 days. I have learned so much more and have actually learned IPA – amazing! I love the way the trainer encourages so much sharing and cooperative learning. Everyone has been so open and helpful. The floor charts are wonderful.
Jan Bradley, St Laurence’s PS.

Stimulating, motivating. Good content (thorough), lots of valuable activities to take away and use (hands-on), good clarification of terminology, the knowing why behind THRASS, knowledgeable, a lot of fun – very enjoyable, confirmed knowledge already learnt, open forum – good discussions. Thank you!
Jade Biddleston, Fiona Roots, Loretta Kennedy, Canberra Grammar Primary School

Interactive, lively, excellent information. Great the amount of questions we could ask, and receive beautiful clear comprehendible answers. Great revision and building and consolidating!
Trudy Knol, Geelong Baptist College.

As with the last 2 courses, I thoroughly enjoyed the 3-day course. The time line was very relaxed and allowed plenty of discussion time. I now feel confident about my chart and IPA knowledge. The resources included were/are fantastic and it was great to see how the THRASS game and jigsaw could be used. The exam was much easier than I expected, after I couldn’t get to sleep the night before as I was stressing about my knowledge. Keep telling people the exam is hard because it really made me work hard to learn the chart and IPA. Lastly, the food at The Hotel Grand Chancellor is fantastic! More courses should be held at the venue.
Skye Smith, Nagle College, Bairnsdale.

Fun, enlightening, challenging, resourceful, inspirational. What a shame it is that every graduate teacher has not been exposed to this type of teaching. There needs to be a prescribed curriculum for the teaching of literacy skills in universities. I have gained so much from this course and shall endeavor to influence its spread more widely in Tas and at the University. Thank you sincerely.
Jon Hosford, Retired Head of Junior School, Launceston Church Grammar School.

A fabulous course, accelerated my learning and understanding. Helped me to see learning from a child’s perspective. A thorough grounding in THRASS was provided. Clear, understandable, applicable instruction. I’ve learnt to develop my own style and seen areas of inadequacies, which I can now address to improve my explicit teaching, and subsequently the learning of students I work with. I can’t wait to see all schools adopt THRASS.
Dianne McAdam, Highview College, Maryborough.

I enjoyed looking closely at IPA and how we can incorporate it into our teaching. The resources were fantastic, thanks for all the extras. It was great to meet others in this area.
Marg McLennon, Romsey PS.

This course has inspired many new THRASS ideas to implement. Enjoyed the interactive activities. Good revision, although more coverage of speech terminology would be good. I liked the opportunities to ask questions. Good debates on educational issues, but need more time on sharing ideas, games and activities we all do would have been very beneficial. Too much emphasis on starting THRASS in lower grades, not enough ideas for extending students in grades 3 – high school.
Sarah Schwabe, Grange P-12 College, Primary Campus.

My sincere thanks and appreciation for your incredibly inspiring and enthusiastic presentation of THRASS. The past 3 days has allowed me to further consolidate my knowledge and skills in the area of IPA and general revision of THRASS process. I feel I am able to take back to my classroom valuable ideas and methods of extending my grade 6 students. It has further increased my passion and enthusiasm to use THRASS wherever possible.
Teresa Truda, The Grange P-12 College, Primary Campus.

Well planned and we were looked after very well. Lots of practical ideas to take back to our school to share with other staff and use in our classrooms. Now have a much better understanding of IPA and will be able hopefully to use it in a variety of situations. Really enjoyed doing the practical activities because it gives you a much better idea of how to implement them. Love the big mats, they are fantastic. Great staff/trainers, was only great to share with other professionals over the 3 days. Enjoyed all the yummy food and not having to cook.
Jane Motley, Grange P-12 College, primary campus.

Great course. Lots of information and practical activities. Valuable opportunities for networking.
Mary de Graaf, Speech Pathologist, Pembroke PS.

Excellent presentation and explanation of how THRASS can be implemented in the classroom. Excellent imparting of knowledge and use of charts and resources. Much to still learn for me as LPS coordinator and classroom teacher, and how to encourage staff at BGS to invest in this educational tool for the teaching of spelling. The trainer… most inspirational. Many thanks and much gratitude.
Sheridan Coverdale, Brighton Grammar School.

I really enjoyed this PD – the best I have been to. I’ll keep coming back in order to stay enthused and confirm what I’m doing and make the necessary alterations/improvements. Thank you.
Steve Taylor, Manangatang P-12 College

Good consolidation and affirmation of work I am doing. Gained greater confidence to import ideas to colleagues. Good contacts. Thank you.
Julie Hestermann, Gembrook PS.

Excellent dynamic presentation. Sound theoretical basis, well articulated. Questions dealt with promptly and appropriately. Lots of good practical teaching ideas. Inspiring belief in the ability of students (and teachers!) to learn. Also provided some very valuable opportunities for networking. Thanks for all the hard work!
Suanne Tikoft, Yirara College, Alice Springs.

Big plus for me was learning IPA and developing a better understanding of diphthongs and more intricate understanding of vowel sound production. It’s much more likely that I will think more about the sounds I hear in words and using the pronunciation dictionary to check up for accurate pronunciation.
Atholl Murray, The Grange P-12 College.

I appreciated all the work and support given to me. I learnt a lot and I am inspired to continue and expand my use of THRASS in the classroom. I also feel the urgency to roll out THRASS throughout our school. I did find the assessment task quite intimidating and stressful, being a shy person. Thank you for your generous support.
Diana Hutchins, Yirara College, Alice Springs.

I found the course was helpful in filling in gaps in my knowledge and to help consolidate areas that were a little fuzzy. I will also be able to take back some good ideas to use in the classroom. Thanks.
Donna Gordon, The Grange P-12 College.

Thank you for consolidating my current knowledge of THRASS. I feel a lot more confident in using IPA. As a prep teacher I don’t get to use IPA and it’s amazing how quickly you can forget something when you don’t use it. I am happy, as THRASS supporter to now be able to teach teachers IPA more efficiently.
Narelle Furminger, The Grange P-12 College.

As usual a complete delight and privilege to be a part of your workshops. Would love an opportunity for perhaps a scheduled get-together for drinks on afternoon of day 2 to show how they’ve been using /introducing the strategies and some of the brick walls they may have encountered, to then generate strategies for each other to further expansion.
Rhonda Campbell, Speech Pathologist, Bellfield Speech Pathology

FANTASTIC! I feel I have a more concrete understanding – and I am excited to return to my grade and extend my teaching of THRASS and my students understanding. Very thorough course content. The trainer is a fabulous teacher who is clear in her explanations and teaching. Will be back again Sept 2007. Thanks a bunch!
Blayne Wallis, Sydenham/Hillside PS.

Thank you for a very informative and practical training session. It provided a great opportunity to revise many aspects of THRASS. I now have a more complex level of understanding that I can share with children. I’m very sorry that I missed the first day.
Suzanne Hamley, The Grange P-12 College.